The NFL As It Is Now

[hawaiiansteel]

The NFL as it is now

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 09, 2011
posted by Dale Lolley


Thursday night, we saw what happens to a pass defense when a good quarterback is on the field.

Only we got to see it the entire game, as both Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers and New Orleans' Drew Brees threw for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns.

The way the NFL's rules are now, the game heavily – and that doesn't begin to describe it – favors the offense.

People in Pittsburgh tend to look at the Steelers pass defense and say, "They get exposed every time they play an elite quarterback."

That's a silly statement. Everybody's defense gets exposed when playing an elite quarterback. That's what makes those quarterbacks elite!

The trick is to outscore the opposing offense.

New Orleans put 30-plus points on the board Thursday night. It wasn't enough because the Packers were in the 40s and the Saints made a couple of mistakes inside Green Bay's red zone.

But with the offense the Steelers now have, they have the weapons to get into a shootout such as Thursday night's game and come out on the winning side.

The days of three yards and a cloud of dust and defenses dominating games are over.

The NFL in its current state is all about putting points on the board and doing so quickly.

[url="http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/sidelines/"]http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/sidelines/[/url]

[SteelAbility]

Re: The NFL As It Is Now

I absolutely hate the NFL rules as they are now. They keep handcuffing the defense. The rules create more scoring but the meaing of a score is now watered down. The rules haven't done anything to improve pure essence of football.

It's like taking a hearty cup of soup and adding a cup of boiling water to it. You get the same nutrition out of the soup, but you enjoy it way less than you would otherwise. Or it's like making boxers alternate rounds where one of them has one hand tied to his side. That means more punches will land, right? That's more exciting, right?

Or it's like making the hoop bigger in basketball. That'll be more scoring and excitement, right?

Ok, rant over.

[BradshawsHairdresser]

Re: The NFL As It Is Now

I absolutely hate the NFL rules as they are now. They keep handcuffing the defense. The rules create more scoring but the meaing of a score is now watered down. The rules haven't done anything to improve pure essence of football.

It's like taking a hearty cup of soup and adding a cup of boiling water to it. You get the same nutrition out of the soup, but you enjoy it way less than you would otherwise. Or it's like making boxers alternate rounds where one of them has one hand tied to his side. That means more punches will land, right? That's more exciting, right?

Or it's like making the hoop bigger in basketball. That'll be more scoring and excitement, right?

Ok, rant over.

[Oviedo]

Re: The NFL As It Is Now

Why in football does lots of offense get so much disdain. Americans claim to hate soccer because a 1-0 win is a good score but it is considered boring. We want our Penguins scoring like mad with Crosby getting hat tricks every night. We love fast break basketball. We love home runs in baseball not pitchers duels. In NASCAR we want more speed not slow tactical races. Yet everyone acts like high powered offense in football is a bad thing.

I would much rather watch what we saw with the Packers and the Saints than 30 3-yard up the middle runs and lots of punts trying to get field position with a 13-10 game decided by a FG. I think most fans and especially the fans of the future feel the same way.

I said it in other threads...Ben spread 'em out and let the ball go. That is what we have to strive to be the best at or we will not beat the Packers, Saints or Patriots or any other team that embraces that kind of offense. The NFL is never going to go back to "three yards and a cloud of dust." They aren't ever going to look at games and say lets reduce the offense and help the defense. In the 24/7 media world we live in where everything is instantaneous at our fingertips we won't ever go backwards. It isn't in the nature of America to go backwards.

[BradshawsHairdresser]

Re: The NFL As It Is Now

Why in football does lots of offense get so much disdain. Americans claim to hate soccer because a 1-0 win is a good score but it is considered boring. We want our Penguins scoring like mad with Crosby getting hat tricks every night. We love fast break basketball. We love home runs in baseball not pitchers duels. In NASCAR we want more speed not slow tactical races. Yet everyone acts like high powered offense in football is a bad thing.

I would much rather watch what we saw with the Packers and the Saints than 30 3-yard up the middle runs and lots of punts trying to get field position with a 13-10 game decided by a FG. I think most fans and especially the fans of the future feel the same way.

Guess I'm way out of step, then. I don't like soccer, but more points would not make me like it any more. I'm not a big hockey fan, but I like to see the teams have to work hard for a score...it means a lot less when defense isn't as tough. I would rather watch a good college basketball game, where they actually play some defense, that ends in a score of 51-50, than an NBA game that ends 120-119. I'm one who loves to watch a good pitchers' duel--and I absolutely love watching good defensive play in baseball. And I find a tactical race in NASCAR much more interesting than one in which everyone just drives fast.

[Jigawatts]

Re: The NFL As It Is Now

Because football is supposed to be a battle, not a series of "fast breaks."
Chess, not checkers.

Pittsburgh and Baltimore pounding on each other is the nature of football, and
I enjoy much more then Goodell's fantasy game.

[DukieBoy]

Re: The NFL As It Is Now

I absolutely hate the NFL rules as they are now. They keep handcuffing the defense. The rules create more scoring but the meaing of a score is now watered down. The rules haven't done anything to improve pure essence of football.

It's like taking a hearty cup of soup and adding a cup of boiling water to it. You get the same nutrition out of the soup, but you enjoy it way less than you would otherwise. Or it's like making boxers alternate rounds where one of them has one hand tied to his side. That means more punches will land, right? That's more exciting, right?

Or it's like making the hoop bigger in basketball. That'll be more scoring and excitement, right?

Ok, rant over.

The NFL as it is now = the NBAFL

[D Rock]

Re: The NFL As It Is Now

I imagine most people outside of Steeler Nation and maybe Chicago don't mind, and even enjoy, the fast paced NFL. But Steeler fans are raised on defense, so most don't like it. That's kind of silly though, because we still have the best defense in the league to cheer for, and now the Steelers just get to prove that they can do it the old way or the new way.

I think big plays make the game fun to watch. Consider also that I hate basketball because they score so much that everything feels meaningless, and I don't like college football because I find it to be a sloppier game overall...and it's not fun for me to watch future millionaires just destroy regular folks who happen to be big and/or fast and make the football team just to fill out the roster. Each possession is still meaningful in NFL football, so the excitement is not lost for me if both teams score in the 30s or 40s. The drama doesn't disappear, because evenly matched teams will still play evenly matched games. In fact, the new rules make each possession mean more because if you can't keep up then you will get behind quicker. The old rules and 13-10 games had more leeway to allow teams to have a bad series or two.

Why do we get so excited over Mike Wallace catching 50+ yard touchdowns? Why are people going gaga over Antonio Brown? Were none of you entertained by the battle between Sproles and Cobb in the return game Thursday?

You can't have it both ways and love to see your offense make things happen, but hate that other teams can do it too.

[SteelTorch]

Re: The NFL As It Is Now

Why in football does lots of offense get so much disdain. Americans claim to hate soccer because a 1-0 win is a good score but it is considered boring. We want our Penguins scoring like mad with Crosby getting hat tricks every night. We love fast break basketball. We love home runs in baseball not pitchers duels. In NASCAR we want more speed not slow tactical races. Yet everyone acts like high powered offense in football is a bad thing.

I would much rather watch what we saw with the Packers and the Saints than 30 3-yard up the middle runs and lots of punts trying to get field position with a 13-10 game decided by a FG. I think most fans and especially the fans of the future feel the same way.

I said it in other threads...Ben spread 'em out and let the ball go. That is what we have to strive to be the best at or we will not beat the Packers, Saints or Patriots or any other team that embraces that kind of offense. The NFL is never going to go back to "three yards and a cloud of dust." They aren't ever going to look at games and say lets reduce the offense and help the defense. In the 24/7 media world we live in where everything is instantaneous at our fingertips we won't ever go backwards. It isn't in the nature of America to go backwards.

A) You don't speak for all fans.

B) Part of this outrage is because of the ridiculous nature of the penalties and rules - where flags and fines are thrown out on a wildly inconsistent basis. And it's not gotten to the point where defenders are flagged for so much as breathing on the quarterback or "tackling in an intimidating manner".

[SteelTorch]

Re: The NFL As It Is Now

Why do we get so excited over Mike Wallace catching 50+ yard touchdowns? Why are people going gaga over Antonio Brown? Were none of you entertained by the battle between Sproles and Cobb in the return game Thursday?

You can't have it both ways and love to see your offense make things happen, but hate that other teams can do it too.

I think it's because fans also would like to see Harrison/Woodley get a sack or Clark lay a mean hit without drawing flags and a fine from the officials. Those are also things we like watching, but are being taken away.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: The NFL As It Is Now

News flash...high scoring hockey games suck. The NHL All-Star game without any real checking is almost at bad as the Pro Bowl without any blitzing (and Goodell seems to be moving closer-and-closer to Pro Bowl rules for regular NFL games). When a game is 8-6 and every other shot goes in due to no defense and shotty goaltending, it's ridiculous.

Give me a close checking 2-1 or 3-2 game any day. The smartest thing the Pens did recently was signing Michalek and Martin to be shutdown d-men, since we realized that we did not have that aspect to our game after Scuderi and Gill left following the Cup win. A strong blueline kept us in contention even when two of the best players in the world were unable to play at all in the second half of the season.

Sure, I love games were Sid and Geno are on and make magic on the ice (just like when Ben and Wallace make vertical magic happen on the gridiron), but to be a consistent winner, defense still comes first. I'm not advocating a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust, ground-and-pound offense...that is only one way of imposing your will on the opposition. I look forward to our football team imposing our will on offense with a balanced attack that takes advantage of your opponent's weaknesses, and a defense that can make you one-dimensional and dictate how you must attack them.

[DukieBoy]

Re: The NFL As It Is Now

News flash...high scoring hockey games suck. The NHL All-Star game without any real checking is almost at bad as the Pro Bowl without any blitzing (and Goodell seems to be moving closer-and-closer to Pro Bowl rules for regular NFL games). When a game is 8-6 and every other shot goes in due to no defense and shotty goaltending, it's ridiculous.

Give me a close checking 2-1 or 3-2 game any day. The smartest thing the Pens did recently was signing Michalek and Martin to be shutdown d-men, since we realized that we did not have that aspect to our game after Scuderi and Gill left following the Cup win. A strong blueline kept us in contention even when two of the best players in the world were unable to play at all in the second half of the season.

Sure, I love games were Sid and Geno are on and make magic on the ice (just like when Ben and Wallace make vertical magic happen on the gridiron), but to be a consistent winner, defense still comes first. I'm not advocating a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust, ground-and-pound offense...that is only one way of imposing your will on the opposition. I look forward to our football team imposing our will on offense with a balanced attack that takes advantage of your opponent's weaknesses, and a defense that can make you one-dimensional and dictate how you must attack them.

ONe of the very best hockey games I ever saw at the Igloo was a game that ended in a 0-0 tie, back in the early '70's. It was intense, with increasing intensity as the game progressed. Great tight checking, great goaltending, awesome competition.

Part of the intrigue of what is recognized as the great rivalry between the Steelers and Rats is the intensity, especially from both D's, which is becoming handicapped by by the new rules. I like fastbreak basketball, but not fastbreak football. I want to see teams work harder to earn their scores, not make it easier for them. They've tilted the field downhill for the offenses. The old records for offensive achievenet hard-earned by great players are going to be eclipsed by players who will have had an easier time of it partly becuse of the new NBAFL rules.

[papillon]

Re: The NFL As It Is Now

Points in a football game are good, but not when they aren't earned because the defensde is handcuffed. If the game was 50-48 and the defense had a fighting chance to make plays it would be fine. The defenses had absolutely no chance of making a play Thursday evening and the game sucked for me.

If it was enjoyable to you, that's great, but to me a football game involves offense, defense and special teams.

Pappy

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: The NFL As It Is Now

Did you ever go to an Arena Football game? It's awful. 70-something to 60-something. Yawn. I'd much rather go to a high school football game than that pinball crap.

[Oviedo]

Re: The NFL As It Is Now

Why in football does lots of offense get so much disdain. Americans claim to hate soccer because a 1-0 win is a good score but it is considered boring. We want our Penguins scoring like mad with Crosby getting hat tricks every night. We love fast break basketball. We love home runs in baseball not pitchers duels. In NASCAR we want more speed not slow tactical races. Yet everyone acts like high powered offense in football is a bad thing.

I would much rather watch what we saw with the Packers and the Saints than 30 3-yard up the middle runs and lots of punts trying to get field position with a 13-10 game decided by a FG. I think most fans and especially the fans of the future feel the same way.

I said it in other threads...Ben spread 'em out and let the ball go. That is what we have to strive to be the best at or we will not beat the Packers, Saints or Patriots or any other team that embraces that kind of offense. The NFL is never going to go back to "three yards and a cloud of dust." They aren't ever going to look at games and say lets reduce the offense and help the defense. In the 24/7 media world we live in where everything is instantaneous at our fingertips we won't ever go backwards. It isn't in the nature of America to go backwards.

A) You don't speak for all fans.

B) Part of this outrage is because of the ridiculous nature of the penalties and rules - where flags and fines are thrown out on a wildly inconsistent basis. And it's not gotten to the point where defenders are flagged for so much as breathing on the quarterback or "tackling in an intimidating manner".

Don't recall saying I speak for all fans. I asked a rhetorical question.

Fans can long for the "good ole days," but they aren't ever coming back.